AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Prologue
Ihad never known a day of freedom in all my life.
When I thought about my family, I was fortunate enough to be able to say that I’d grown up feeling loved, supported, protected, and accepted. Even through all the rough patches, I’d been sheltered from the worst of it, and all thanks to my brother.
I’d known love by how my mother had worked multiple jobs just to keep food on the table and a roof over our heads after our father had left us.
I’d known support in the way that both she and my brother would do their best to attend all my school functions, no matter how busy they’d been.
I’d known protection because everyone knew who my brother was and that he wasn’t one to be messed with, and that wasn’t even including the Finley brothers.
I’d known acceptance with how no one had ever tried to change me or convince me that my dreams were too big for me, even though some of them might be.
Ironically, looking at my life, you would assume that I had all the freedom in the world, but I really didn’t. Just like the rest of my family, I had obligations, and I took those obligations seriously. I’d been blessed with a high intelligence level, and I had chosen early on not to squander that gift.
So, looking at my life, you’d see a teenage girl that needed more than twenty-four hours in the day to chase all of her dreams. Looking at my life, you’d see a girl with barely enough time to sleep after everything was said and done for the day. Looking at my life, you’d see a girl that you might even be a little envious of, despite the obvious hardships.
I stared out the window, waiting for my ride, wondering what girl I was going to be this year. For the past eighteen years, I’d been the dutiful sister and daughter, refusing to let my family down by messing up even once. With everything that my family had sacrificed for me, there was no way in hell that I would ever let them down, no matter how heavily my commitments weighed on my shoulders sometimes.
Now, even though I realized how very blessed I was, there were still a lot of things that I longed to experience. In all of my eighteen years, I’d never had my own friends, though I had plenty of acquaintances. I’d never had any boyfriends. I’d never had any life experiences that hadn’t been vetted and approved by my brother or mother beforehand, mostly my brother.
In fact, I was so used to my life being approved in advance that I didn’t even feel comfortable driving my own car around. I didn’t know what it felt like to just get up and go do something on my own, and I felt both grateful and embarrassed about that; grateful because I had a family that loved me, embarrassed because I was eighteen already.
As I continued to stare out the window, I thought about what this final year of high school was going to mean for me, and I could feel my chest tighten with uncertainty. I’d always had a plan, and while I still did for after graduation, I had one year to become comfortable with my newfound independence before going off to college, alone and unchaperoned.
My phone burned in my pocket, the need to call my brother feeling stronger than it’d ever had. We’d always been close, and I could admit that I wasn’t exactly sure how to live without him at home, waiting to hear about my day. Nevertheless, I knew better than to call him. He had his own life now, and he deserved to finally have a little bit of freedom of his own. For most of my life, Talon had taken care of me, being the father that we’d never had, and he deserved to be happy now.
So, leaving the temptation in the back pocket of my jeans, I continued to stare out the window, waiting for my ride, wondering if I was even going to have anyone to hang out with this year. While I knew a lot of people because of all the extracurricular activities that I’d been involved in all these years, Talon had been my only real friend. When he’d gotten together with Kenzlee, then she and Alexandria had become my friends, too. However, now that they were all gone, I had no real friends of my own.
As I watched Lars Finley pull into the driveway, guilt weighed heavily on my chest again. Like Talon, he was another person that felt responsible for me, and that wasn’t what I wanted from Lars. This was also his senior year of high school, and the last thing that he needed to be doing was babysitting me.
So, it was time to do something about everything that I’d never had the chance to experience before. It was time to take control of my own life and do it for fun this time around. It was time to experience the things that Iwantedto do, and not the things that Ihadto do.
Like I’d said, I had never known a day of freedom in all my life.
Until now.
Chapter 1
The things that are different, but the same.
Edie~
Icouldn’t lie and say that I wasn’t nervous. Even though I couldn’t remember a time when my days hadn’t been busy with school or all the programs that I’d been in, I still hadn’t made any real friends of my own growing up. While I knew a lot of people, I’d always been too busy to really befriend anyone. If there’d ever been anyone that had needed more than twenty-four hours in a day, it would be me.
However, this year, I was hoping to change all that. While I still had a few school clubs that I felt passionate about, the plan was to cut back on all the extracurricular activities and try to attend a party or two. For the first time in my life, might I add.
Up until Talon had graduated from high school, I had always been ‘Talon Draven’s little sister’, never just Edie Draven. With our father, Hawkley Draven, out of the picture, and our mother, Helen Draven, working herself to death to make sure that we’d always had what we needed, Talon had been the one to raise me for the most part. Grateful for all that Talon had been, I was very aware that my life could have been a lot harder than just my father taking off on us.
When my brother had been old enough, Talon had taken up underground fighting, putting his life at risk most weekends just so that I could have hope for a successful future. When my teachers had begun praising my intelligence at a young age, Talon had been adamant that he’d do whatever necessary to send me to college, and no amount of begging had stopped him from winning those fights, no matter how dangerous. Honestly, I owed my whole life to my brother, and I hoped that he knew that.
As for Mom, she had done her best after Hawkley had left us. I couldn’t remember a time when she hadn’t had more than one job, and I knew that she would always be grateful for Talon and everything that he’d done to keep our family together and from going under.
Of course, all that had changed when he’d met Kenzlee, his fiancé. Though things had started out rocky in the beginning, Talon and Kenzlee were the real deal, and when she had come into an inheritance, Kenzlee had chosen to take care of her new family over buying designer handbags. Because of Kenzlee, she, Talon, Hunter Finley, and Kenzlee’s cousin, Alexandria Grant, were attending college right now. Kenzlee’s generosity was also the reason why Lars Finley and I were going to be able to go to college ourselves next year.
Life had become a lot easier after Talon had allowed Kenzlee to share her wealth with us, and for those people that didn’t believe in angels, they just hadn’t met Kenzlee Mitchell yet. Honestly, knowing all the tragedy that Kenzlee had endured last year, I was pretty sure that my brother had just wanted her to be happy. My brother was big on making sure to take care of the women in his life, so letting Kenzlee pay for stuff had been hard on him. Nevertheless, after Kenzlee had lost her twin brother to an overdose, and her father to suicide, Talon had chosen her happiness over his pride.
Putting my stuff away in my locker, I thought about how everyone was gone, leaving only me and Lars here at Lakeside High. For as long as I could remember, Lars and Hunter Finley had always been a part of our family. They were Talon’s best friends, and our families were close enough that I could knock on the Finleys’ front door and invite myself to dinner if I wanted to.
